"the tree is old but it's...Still full of sap..." Ps. 92:14 (NAB)

July 26, 2016

When we come to the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 31, 2016) the Scripture Readings challenge us to the core of our being. The lectionary readings for Sunday are in a three year cycle. Here e reflections from the 18th Sunday from 3 and 6 years ago.

"We may still have idols residing outside of ourselves — if we allow our things, our possessions and creations to stand between us and God, and to essentially own us — but we are very adept at burnishing the godlings of the mind, the ideas and opinions and beliefs formed interiorly. These are petted and loved and fed, and they grow directly in proportion to how much we indulge them, until they become the object of our enthrallment and the entity we serve. If our ideology, for instance, has become an idol, then we nourish it by reading only what suits our point of view; we speak and gather with only those who think as we think; we visit websites that echo our thoughts back to us, until we lose sight of anything beyond it — even the humanity of the one who does not conform to our beliefs. We begin to serve the idol of the idea, alone."

This book will be a good read. There is something here to challenge both liberals and conservatives. Even without reading it, we can ask ourselves about the extent to which our chosen causes turn into idols and control our lives.

In The Human Condition: Contemplation and Transformation, Fr. Keating describes the development of the "home-made self." (Most often called the "false self.") When we are little we mature in an environment that is somewhat hostile - in spite of the best efforts of our parents. We develop coping mechanisms that provide us with happiness and satisfy three energy centers or needs:

Safety and Security

Esteem and Affection

Power and Control

We develop a set of routines and behaviors that satisfy these needs. Keating calls these routines "Programs for Happiness." One might, for example, think that gathering all the information and developing a good plan will insure safety and control needs. As long as this works, it is fine and one might see one's self as a successful planner. A problem arises when one cannot get enough information or the situation is rapidly changing. One possible response is to obsessively seek more information, losing sight of responsibilities in many other areas of one's life. Many kinds of self destructive behaviors can follow in an attempt to compensate. This obsessive seeking of information is part of the "home-made self." Through this process a legitimate attempt to meed basic needs evolves in to a set of character defects.

If we can detach from our defects, turning them over to the care of God, we will find that our whole selves are much larger and more capable of achieving happiness. The energy that was part of the homemade self will still be present, but can be more productive.

So we can ask: Is Paul being too harsh when he urges the Colossians to "Put to death the parts of you that are earthly..." If the "homemade self" has parts of it that are destructive or even self defeating, I think not. We need to recognize that the "home-made self" can lead us to a number of disordered attachment - work, possessions, control, money, etc. There is hope. After putting that part of the homemade self to death we can "...put on the new self, which is being renewed ... in the image of its creator." The new self - the God-made self - will contain all of the strengths of the homemade self, plus hidden strengths and the freedom to use them.

July 20, 2016

The lectionary is structured so that the Old Testament and Gospel readings are thematically related each Sunday. The relationships for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time is based on persistence in prayer - and trusting that God will supply what is needed.

Too often we act on the subconscious belief that "if a little is good, more is better." Then we find that no amount is enough. We need only look at celebrities to see where this leads. Yet is not just celebrities who have this problem. We all know people who can't get enough work, food, possessions, time looking at facebook, knowledge, etc.

Gregory Pierce, in his book Spirituality at Work: 10 Ways to Balance Your Life on the Job sets forth ten disciplines, Number nine is "Deciding how much is enough - and sticking to it." (Go here for my review.) Setting goals is good. Reaching them is also good. There does, however, come a time when we have enough and wishing for more becomes self destructive.

So, how does this relate to the readings? In Gen. 18:20-32 We find Abraham asking the Lord how many righteous ones he must find in order to save Sodom. He negotiates until he reaches the number of ten righteous men. These will be enough.

In Luke 11:1-13 we are told to pray for our daily bread. We need not fear that we will not have enough for tomorrow. We don’t have to pray for twice as much bread as we will need today. We can ask for that tomorrow. We should not be afraid to consume what we have today, fearing that we will starve tomorrow.

Are we sure we won't get enough of the right things for tomorrow? On a human level, we can never be absolutely certain - but we can turn our lives over to the care of God today. That will be enough for today. We can do the same tomorrow.

July 13, 2016

On the 16h Sunday of Ordinary Time (July 17, 2016) we get the Martha and Mary story. Here is my blog entry from six years ago (slightly revised). : For the Mass readings for each Sunday there is a connection between the Old Testament and Gospel. In this case Martha, in preparing meals, is acting as Sarah did when she and Abraham greeted guests. Martha was doing what Sarah had done, preparing a meal for a guest. This is a basic ministry of hospitality, from which the blessing of the Covenant flowed to Abraham and his descendants (including us.) When Martha complains that her sister Mary is conversing with Jesus instead of helping out, she is rebuked. She is told not to be anxious about many things and that Mary has chosen the better part.

This gospel is often preached to make the point that Mary's life of contemplation and prayer is superior to Martha's life of active service. This is, I contend, the wrong point. Martha's problem was not that she was actively serving her guest, just as her ancestor Sarah had done. Her problem was that she gave into resentment and anxiety over having the meal ready. She is told that Mary has chosen the "better part." The adjective "better" is not intended to compare active service with quiet contemplation. Rather, it compares practicing serenity with giving into anxiety and resentment at having to do the task that is before her. Gregory Pierce, in his audio CD on spirituality of work, contends that Martha was so focused on her work that she forgot that the Lord was in the house.

These are good words to remember when we find ourselves overly busy and wishing for a different, more contemplative life.

Then inLuke 10:25-37 we read that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus drives the point home by telling the story of the good Samaritan. On Sunday most of us will be reminded that the Samaritans and Jews were enemies and that our love of neighbor should extend to the undesirables and enemies in our world.

The result of this preaching may be that many of us will feel inadequate and wonder if we will always fall short of the gospel command. The question is: how do we get from where we are to a state of mind similar to that of the good Samaritan. Why was he able to see a naked, beaten up Jew - an enemy - as someone deserving of compassion, effort and expense? How do we find it in our own hearts?

We don't know anything about this Samaritan, but we can speculate. Kathleen Norris, in Amazing Grace writes that in the original Hebrew the word "salvation" has a worldly, not religious, meaning. It meant to find a safe path out of a narrow and dangerous place. This was surely the situation of the man in the ditch, beating and stripped by robbers. Maybe the Samaritan had himself been "saved' or rescued from a similar danger. If so, he would not have been able to pass the victim by, as did the priest and the Levite. Instead, out of gratitude for his own rescue the Samaritan "approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal,took him to an inn, and cared for him."

It is very hard for any of us, to see another as suffering while we are convinced of our own moral and spiritual superiority. It is only after we become aware of our own shortcomings, and our need for rescue, that we can begin to look on others as the Samaritan did. How do we do this? The best short description that I know is found in Thomas Keating's The Human Condition: Contemplation and Transformation.